LAKELAND, Fla. – Reporting from spring training, where it’s supposed to be 83 degrees today and I promise not to mention the temperature again until Tuesday.

Detroit Tigers pitchers and catchers report to camp on Tuesday and optimism is in the air, hope springs eternal, the sound of cleats on concrete and all that. Baseball is almost back. It’s great.

And that’s where we start this spring, the first since 2006 that the Tigers have come into the season without big expectations. Justin Verlander is not walking through that door, talking about how he’s always had a chance to win a World Series here – he’s with the Astros, talking about it there.

No, the only expectation this year for the Tigers is to lose and lose a lot, which they will. They finished with the worst record in baseball last season with the services of Ian Kinsler for a full season, Verlander and Justin Upton for five months and J.D. Martinez for two months. They are all gone and the Tigers still don’t have much pitching.

It’s going to be tough, ugly at times, but I think the Tigers are going to be a fun team to follow.

The pressure of the expectations they’ve crumbled under for the past few seasons is gone. There is new leadership with manager Ron Gardenhire, an impressionable group of young players at various stages of their development and a certain feeling of freshness.

Gardenhire was general manager Al Avila’s most significant offseason move. He’s one of the better managers in the game and brings an important element of experience. I would expect the Tigers to play more fundamentally sound baseball this season.

They will have a mostly young and inexpensive roster without much ego. James McCann and Nick Castellanos seem prepared to take on larger leadership roles and it wouldn’t surprise to see veterans Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez – who is likely playing in his final season – take more interest in the youngsters.

The Tigers won’t be good this season, but at the least they should be likable and won’t run the risk of getting stale before the trade deadline. The players won’t be answering questions about their manager and we won’t be writing about how he’s on the hot seat.

It’s the small things, like seeing if Castellanos can fill larger shoes offensively and if Daniel Norris can find any consistency. It’s watching Jeimer Candelario play his first full season in the majors. It’s the health of Cabrera and whether or not he will be able to carry the team to some respectability. It’s any number of players who can step up and aid their rebuilding efforts by becoming useful pieces at the trade deadline.

You will have to look really hard, squinting at future success that seems even further away in the standings, but as change finally, officially hits Tiger Town this week, I have a feeling it will be more fun to watch than people expect.